Lately, Ben's been pretty attached to Mama. Here's what I see all the time, as Ben wants me to pick him up constantly!!!
Favorite toy of the day: a leftover cat toy from when I had my cat China. Ben found it in a basket and carried it around all day!! Hey, who needs "real" toys when you've got cat toys and diapers?!
In Ben's 12th month, he got his first two molars and said his first word other than Mama and Dada..."Light!" He says it all the time, and would be content for hours for you to hold him near a light switch and let him just flip away!
Ben got his second haircut, which cut a whole lot more off than the first. He did pretty well once we gave him his all-time favorite toy: Mama's keys. You can see him here "starting up" one of his toys. I love how he'll go around and say, "Brrrrmmmmmmm!!!" to anything and everything - a box, random toys, the fridge - while turning the keys on it!
He also learned how (or got tall enough) to climb up on the couch, coffee table, chairs...you name it, he's a little monkey! This is a bit worrisome for safety reasons, but he is very good at "going backwards", meaning obviously that he will turn around and inch off backwards so he's not plunging off head first. We taught him this at the beach this summer, and made a big deal about how great he was doing, so he does it VERY frequently. It's hilarious to see him turn around, drop to the floor and scoot backwards over a drop of a few inches....so cute!!!
We've been super busy at the new house getting it ready to move in. Ben loves running around all the open space, but hasn't proven to be a very good helper when it comes to painting (HA!) In fact, we were over once when Mark was painting, and even with four of us in the room, he managed to bolt over to the paint tray and dunk both hands before someone got to him!!
We're down to two bottles a day (morning and night) and drinking from sippy and straw cups. Ben's a pretty picky eater - fruit, pasta, cubed ham, cheese and yogurt are our staples. Sometimes it can get messy around here!!!
This look can only say one thing: "Am I in trouble??"
Here's the birthday boy ~ looking sharp for his party!! 
The Invitation:
I had to show those because seriously, between the banner and the invitations, Mama had a CALLOUS on her finger from the scissors! Ahhhh....the things we do for our babies :)
Other party goods included a monkey cake, TONS of bananas, and 2 TONS of pictures of Ben throughout his first year...some would call it a shrine (ha ha!!). Mark made everyone take a banana home as a party favor because we'd never get around to eating them all.
Then it was onto the good stuff....Let's Eat Cake!!! Right around this time, Ben was getting his 8th and 9th teeth - one of which was a first molar. So, "picky eater" was indeed the case for a few weeks. I made him a banana-flavored cake 1. because it fit the monkey theme, of course! and 2. in hopes he'd enjoy the cake since he'd eaten regular white cake a few times before and not been too interested.
Squish! A new "trick" he's been doing lately...
Whew! I don't know HOW we got that little booger cleaned up for the rest of the party! Fun times with Daddy...
Mason was excited!!
Happy Mama!!
Ummmm....sleepy Daddy, LOL! Mark stumbled right back to bed as soon as the serinade was over!
Oh, and where was Chandler? Behind the camera, of course! He's the MASTER of getting smiles out of Ben!
Later that day we went out to Jason's Deli for dinner and to Rita's Italian Ice for dessert. We've all been looking forward to giving Ben a "Rita's" for his birthday. He tried everyone's flavors and his favorite was Wild Black Cherry ~ YUM!
Here's Ben the day we got there, the very first time he saw the ocean...No Fear!!
Little Man's cheeks kept getting pink as soon as we got to the beach, and I'd put more and more sunscreen on until I realized it was just because he was hot!!
Everyday, Daddy dug him a little pool, and he played for hours in it with his favorite beach toy, an orange-handled net (not pictured - I really can't believe he forgot about it for a minute!). Mason and Chandler were such good playmates!!
As you can imagine, this did not go over well or smoothly. But, the worst that happened was that Chandler blew out a flip flop when the bike spokes "ate" it. I'm just glad there wasn't any blood or broken bones. To confirm our bike ride was indeed a flop, Ben fell asleep on his first bike outing ever. Now don't get too excited, Ben!! Ha ha!! That's saying a lot, too, because he doesn't typically fall asleep in places like strollers, couches, in your arms, etc. Needless to say, that plus the fact that we were drenched in sweat at 8:00 in the morning convinced us not to take anymore bike rides!
Two older brothers and a silly daddy's favorite thing to do with two tennis balls and my sweet baby!!!
Slip-Slidin' Away!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fun time at the park with Dad...
My guys ~ what a handsome pair!
